"Part of the reason why Northeastern always seems to outperform expectations is because they test themselves in non-league play. The past three seasons, this team has won at Michigan State, at #15 Miami and at UConn and still schedules up. The Huskies have another strong schedule already, and will have the chance to play Purdue, Virginia Tech and Wichita State in the Charleston Classic if the bracket breaks right.

That's one of the reason's I like our schedule this year so much. We are playing a decent non-conference schedule, not trying to pad the record with wins that nobody gives your credit for anyway. Better things - maybe a lot better - will happen for UNCW this year because of it.

"Part of the reason why Northeastern always seems to outperform expectations is because they test themselves in non-league play. The past three seasons, this team has won at Michigan State, at #15 Miami and at UConn and still schedules up. The Huskies have another strong schedule already, and will have the chance to play Purdue, Virginia Tech and Wichita State in the Charleston Classic if the bracket breaks right.

That's one of the reason's I like our schedule this year so much. We are playing a decent non-conference schedule, not trying to pad the record with wins that nobody gives your credit for anyway. Better things - maybe a lot better - will happen for UNCW this year because of it.

I agree... I think the conference is going to the best top to bottom this year that it's been in a while.

I think that NE, C of C, UNCW and Hofstra are the teams to watch and possibly the Tribe. Other than that, I don't see a lot of quality this year. Elon is down, JMU may be improving, Delaware is down, Drexel is really down and Towson lost a lot. There's a divide this year the way it looks now to me. I would rate this conference about # 16 or so due to the low teams. And, this conference has been a top 10 conference in the past.

(10-05-2018 10:38 PM)billthebighawksfan Wrote: I think that NE, C of C, UNCW and Hofstra are the tekams to watch and possibly the Tribe. Other than that, I don't see a lot of quality this year. Elon is down, JMU may be improving, Delaware is down, Drexel is really down and Towson lost a lot. There's a divide this year the way it looks now to me. I would rate this conference about # 16 or so due to the low teams. And, this conference has been a top 10 conference in the past.

The bottom 4 teams will weigh the conference rank down for sure, but I think all of the top 6 teams could compete for the title. I can't remember anything like that in recent years. W&M is going to be good, that system with a talent like Nathan Knight is going to be fun to watch. C.B. has a squad he can throw out there that can compete with anyone led by Cacok. Hofstra has a very talented backcourt but losing Gustys will hurt. I really like what Louis Rowe has done at JMU. They began to turn the tide a bit towards the end of last season. Don't sleep on their backcourt either, Lewis and Mosley can get buckets against anyone.

(10-05-2018 10:38 PM)billthebighawksfan Wrote: I think that NE, C of C, UNCW and Hofstra are the teams to watch and possibly the Tribe. Other than that, I don't see a lot of quality this year. Elon is down, JMU may be improving, Delaware is down, Drexel is really down and Towson lost a lot. There's a divide this year the way it looks now to me. I would rate this conference about # 16 or so due to the low teams. And, this conference has been a top 10 conference in the past.

I normally do not venture on other boards but curious why you feel Delaware is down? Due to Daly transfer? I guess on the surface it can appear that way but we played the entire conf season without Kevin Anderson. Losing Daly hurt but he was not THE team. Anderson, not Allen, would have been ROY IMO and with Carter and Allen, the team is trending up, not down. Things will only get better with the group coming in next year. I put Knight, Cacock and Brantley as the leagues best big men with Carter as the 4th best who avg close to a double/double. We also swept you and JMU without Kevin Anderson playing. I have no idea how the season will shake other than NU and Charleston are up there with Hofstra and WM. I think you, JMU and us will battle in the middle and Elon, Towson, Drexel bring up the rear.

My post is really just to incite discussion not troll..with the demise of the CAAzone, the inter conf banter has gone away. Unfortunately these post usually are not taken the right way but oh well, just here to talk hoops. Outside of Cacock, what is there suggest a top 4 finish? Taylor and Fornes are good players but are they all conf caliber? The rest of the squad are question marks just like outside of Carter, Allen and Anderson, we have question marks and unknows.

I personally feel the CAA is going to have a great year OOC and will end up top 10.

You may be right about Delaware...that's cool because I want them to be good. It could be better without having Daly. UNCW lost more offense than any team in the nation last year, had a new coach and had to learn how to actually play defense. They were a different team at the end of the year. And, UNCW has a TON more overall talent this year albeit most of it young. UNCW will be much improved this year and I hope that Delaware is also.

"Cacok" is in a class by himself period and is an All American. If UNCW is not top 4 CAA, then by definition, it's a bad year. Top 4 is simply not the goal, it's winning titles for this flagship program. Last year is understandable, this year is not. UNCW should have one of the best frontcourts in the CAA and should be solid in the backcourt with plenty of options. We shall see....but I'm getting a really good vibe and the players tools/starters experience are now there sans PG which will be very good anyway.

(10-09-2018 07:19 PM)billthebighawksfan Wrote: You may be right about Delaware...that's cool because I want them to be good. It could be better without having Daly. UNCW lost more offense than any team in the nation last year, had a new coach and had to learn how to actually play defense. They were a different team at the end of the year. And, UNCW has a TON more overall talent this year albeit most of it young. UNCW will be much improved this year and I hope that Delaware is also.

"Cacok" is in a class by himself period and is an All American. If UNCW is not top 4 CAA, then by definition, it's a bad year. Top 4 is simply not the goal, it's winning titles for this flagship program. Last year is understandable, this year is not. UNCW should have one of the best frontcourts in the CAA and should be solid in the backcourt with plenty of options. We shall see....but I'm getting a really good vibe and the players tools/starters experience are now there sans PG which will be very good anyway.

You have a lot of "hope" there Bill and that is good. But, our hope is based on mostly unproven commodities. I think that was his point.